All her light—and all his love—may not be enough to hold the nightmares at bay…

Guardians of Light, Book 4

Mingling with other races is strictly forbidden, but dream faerie Pryseis has no choice. An innocent goblin child suffers dangerous nightmares, and it should be a simple task to cure him and return to her anxious sisters before the council knows she’s gone.

Yet there’s a reason a creature of air and sunlight has no business underground. Now in chains, prisoner of an ungrateful goblin sorcerer, Pryseis despairs that anyone will save her. Her only comfort—the memory of a man she can only touch in her dreams.

Benilo ta Myran, with the reluctant blessing of his elven king and queen, takes up a quest some would call mad, driven by the certain knowledge that the beautiful faerie who invades his dreams is in danger. He carries a terrible secret—war has broken his healing powers—yet he cannot leave her to face the darkness alone.

The first touch of their flesh surpasses their most erotic dreams, but the nightmare has just begun. There’s the suffering child, and a sorcerer who won’t go down without a fight. And the clock is ticking down for Pryseis, who must return home—or fade away.

What defines a Guardian, anyway? Some are obvious. Professionals. Soldiers and sailors, law enforcement, security. Some would argue even spies play their part. Politicians? The good ones. (We’ve all seen the damage a BAD one can do, so stands to reason a GOOD one would be just as effective in reverse…)

But what IS a Guardian? I think it’s the one, or the few, looking out for the many. Or the one, or the few, looking out for the one, or the few. Nurturers are Guardians. Parents. Healers. Teachers. Obvious again.

I think we ALL have the capacity to be Guardians. It’s a choice. You help or you hinder. That simple. If someone is struggling with too many bags, offer to help – or at least hold a door open. If a friend’s vehicle breaks down, offer to give them a ride. If a coworker’s swamped, ask them to delegate some to you. If a school friend’s struggling with a subject, help them study. If a neighbor’s ill and can’t get out, walk their dog or mow their lawn for them. Simply looking out for one another is a form of “guarding.” Therefore, we’re all Guardians. May we all be ACTIVE Guardians.

I got into a lot of trouble by believing the only parent I remember. I don’t remember my mother at all. I was raised by my father, Spiridon. Sheltered from the world, my own truth was what Spiridon said. I didn’t know any different…until I found that book and met Niadh and Trystan. All of a sudden, there were words like “honor” and “guardian” and I realized there was more to life and I could actually have a PURPOSE…

I realized I had to take responsibility for my own actions, that it’s not enough to just blindly obey. I had to decide what kind of person I wanted to be, and make myself become that person. No one else could do it for me.

The power of self-actualization and choice. Never follow the crowd. Follow your own heart and conscience.

As a single mother, I struggle daily with self-doubt. Am I making the right choices for my children? How to let them run free and still protect them? How to make them careful but not fearful? I constantly try not to let my dark days trickle down to them. The lure of the sea, my anger at Cilaniestra’s callous disregard for the individuals in Her watery realm, how to hide thr truth of our selkie existence from the mortals in Lighthaven. The children’s laughter brighten my days, but sometimes at night, I think too much. My soul yearns for the sea, and my heart fears for that day. What will happen to the littles? I need to leave, but they cannot follow and I can’t leave them. To stand daily on this hard silent land, hearing the songs of the deep but unable to answer, to join in…

Bran took the secret of where my skin is hidden to his grave. That bitch Cilaniestra demanded his ship, the “Hope of Lighthaven” as tithe. I’ve searched everywhere, but his imagination must be stronger than mine because I can’t find it.

And so here we are. Me and the littles, Braeca and Ioain. Living in a lighthouse atop a cliff overlooking Lighthaven, trying to ensure by our Light that no other ships join the Hope of Lighthaven. We’re small warriors against Cilaniestra’s might, but we help those that go out to return again. It’s odd to think that I protect the very beings that imprisoned me, but they’re not to blame for Bran’s selfish actions. I wouldn’t see my friends dead.

Mother…nurturer…protector. They are all the same. Someday my children will grow up to live and work in this village. I wouldn’t deprive them of that. They have friends in town. Braeca goes to school. They go to Mari’s to play with the puppies, and to Bella’s to experience farm living. Sometimes I worry that they’re too isolated up at the Light. What do they think of when they play with their friends who have two parents? Fishermen who never return, storms that eat boats, are a fact of life here. The Wall in The Mermaid Pub lists the names of the lost. I hate them knowing so young how fragile and fleeting life can be. I would shield them from harm, from sadness, from loss if I could. I wish every moment could be filled with sunshine and laughter, with puppies and mud-pies and blueberries and fresh apple cidar. With people who love them.

I guess all we can do is the best we can for our children, and let them know that whether dark or sunny days, we love them always. No matter what.

Mercy? Forgiveness? The hardest thing in the world is to lay your enemies to rest while they’re still breathing. Queen Sunniva is gone, and her henchmen are gone, but we Shamaru spent so much time hating the Shamari invaders it’s hard to see the people behind the word. Wolf and I coined a new word – “Shamarans” – as a merging of the two peoples. No longer two polar ends but a blending. Unfortunately, words blend swifter than people. Wolf lost everything, and I nearly so, but even our “marriage of necessity” is frought with tension sometimes.

I know they’re just people, and everyone suffered. But it wasn’t the Shamari in those brothels, in those prisons. Stars! What we found in the port cities of Marcou made me want to resurrect and kill Sunniva all over again. Queen of Butchers. We have healers for body and spirit, but only time shall tell if we can regain our souls.

My biggest bone of contention is the people who sat back and let it happen. Fear and complacency, the “at least it’s not happening to me” mentality is the biggest poison this land and people endured. Trying to restore heart and courage in a whipped dog. Wolf and I, and Haznal and Jovan, try to show the people that it CAN work. Everyone fights. We can’t agree on everything all the time, but it makes me crazy every time Wolf and I argue and someone takes it to the people and everyone says “SEE? Told you it would never work.”

ARGH!

And Wolf and I love each other! The Shamaran people? They have a long way to go. It’s a good thing I’m the stubbornest woman in the land! Sometimes it comes in handy.

People ask me all the time what’s the most important thing in my life. That’s an easy one for anyone from the clans. It’s kin and family. We love and respect and help each other. I was born into my mother’s Badger clan. Sons follow their mother, daughters their fathers, so officially I’m listed as Wolf clan. But I’m both. One raised me. One trained me. When I married my husband, Hengist, his standard in a golden eagle on an indigo blue background, so I consider myself Eagle clan, now too. My brother has a female mountain eagle named Ealga that’s imprinted on him, so he’s also Eagle clan, too. I had an amulet made up, a wolf’s head with an eagle’s beak and wings, to symbolize the union. Those I consider my close-kin wear them.

Hengist was king of Riverhead when we wed. We live in Safehold Keep – part castle, part fort. The people who live there, under our protection, are also my family. They all risked – and some sacrificed – their lives to get me out when our neighbor Count Jalad of Westmarche invaded and tried to take over. When the time came to return and boot him out, there were those who yelled at me for fighting myself. I was pregnant with Alvar at the time. But don’t they understand? I’m Badger, Wolf and Eagle – predators all. Devoted mothers all. And I fought AS a mother. I will not stand by wringing my hands and shrieking for help, sending others off to their death to protect me. As queen, I’m the ultimate mother, fighting for ALL her children, not just my unborn son.

Love isn’t proven just by great battles, though. It’s in the quiet, tender moments, too. It’s helping someone who’s struggling. It’s encouraging someone who’s down. It’s being the one people can depend on, it’s being the one who loves them no matter what. Love accepts. Love doesn’t judge. It’s a light in the darkness. It took me some time to accept that. When I found out Hengist had a daughter by another woman, afore he met me, it was hard to swallow. Hengist and Dara weren’t clan. Would he love her more that our son? Did he still think of Sheena even with me? But I’ve come to realize that love has no boundaries. It stretches and shares to infinity. And Dara is part of my family. the nice thing is, we’re almost of an age. We can be friends and confidantes as well as mother-daughter. There never was a “step” in it.

Fear. The power to make or break. Does it make you cower and give up? Or does it propel you onward? Sometimes fear can be useful, when a smaller fear can be used to conquer a greater fear.

I’d spent my whole life in fear. Growing up, it was fear of boredom, fear of sameness. Yearning for adventure. Then Queen Sunniva and…THAT MAN…turned my world upside down. I had more adventure than I bargained with. Fear of Sunniva destroying my country overcame my personal fear. Fear that if I didn’t act, more people would end up like me…or worse.

Fear of opening myself up again. To trust, to let people in, is a risk. If you let them matter, you give them the power to hurt you. But fear of living in the colorless void of the Grey was worse than the fear of the light and color of emotions – joy, sorrow.

It is a great thing to move past the fear. To rule your own life, to act instead of react. I am not a victim. What was done to me was not my fault. Evil people chose to do evil things, and I chose to not give it power over me. Choice. The ultimate empowering weapon. I choose, thus do I control my own destiny. We write our own stories, one decision at a time. Never be afraid to make a decision, have the courage to stand by it. Making a mistake is not the greatest error. We can learn from them. The greatest mistake is to be so afraid of messing up, of falling, that we never find the courage to jump, to act. I would rather look back and say “at least I tried, I did something” than to look back and realize your life accounts for nothing, that you made no difference because you never tried.

Everyone sees one of two things when they look at me – “half-dragon fire mage” or “queen of the elves.” What they so conveniently forget is that I started out an orphan, a peasant who was a public healer and a secret warrior. VERY secret. Women weren’t permitted to train, let alone fight, which seriously hampers in a situation when you need every available body. Everyone thinks “but you were a princess in disguise.” But I was the bastard daughter of the king – you think that’s something we brag about here in this world?

There are so many lies and liars in the world. No matter intentions, truth is always better. That’s what the elves believed, which is why the king and queen, the ultimate authority figures, wear crowns bespelled to always make the wearer tell the truth. Life-Mates are soul bound, heart and mind to each other, but royalty in power also can’t lie to their subjects. Considering what happened to Maleta’s land Shamar under the rule of Queen Sunniva, I no longer consider it a bad thing to tell the truth. You never have to try to keep it straight.

People need to remember where they came from! Everyone was a squalling little baby once, a little kid with a runny nose and skinned knees. They all had to learn to walk, to talk, to ride a bike or a horse and to drive a car. Your world’s no different from mine except for technology and trappings. My king gets tired and hungry and frustrated and crabby the same as my lady’s maid. Never get too uppity because everyone’s equal inside. No one is greater or lesser than anyone else, no matter what their title or position or occupation. We’re all just people. We breathe, eat, sleep, dream, laugh, cry, hope and worry.

Welcome to a portal in time and space, where the people of this world can interact with characters in other lands, brought to life by the imagination of Renee Wildes. Get to know the people and places of her Guardians of Light series from Samhain Publishing.

There are many different lands and races of people. There are friends and allies, enemies and strangers, war and conflict and discord, friendships and love that transcends differences.

DUALITY

Dara and Loren are featured in Book 1, Duality. He’s the elven king ruling Poshnari-Unai. She was born and raised in Arcadia, south of Shamar.

Hedda's Sword

Maleta and Cianan are featured in Book 2, Hedda’s Sword. She was born & raised in Shamar, north of Arcadia. He traveled there from Poshnari-Unai, and is Loren’s ambassador to the human world.

Lycan Tides

Finora and Trystan are featured in Book 3, Lycan Tides. He was born & raised in the clans of the Dragon’s Back mountains, on the Arcadian/Shamar border. She’s a selkie trapped in the village of Lighthaven, on the Rhattany shores of the Great Western Sea.